University  of  Illinois, 
Library  SchoQj. 

The 
Grand  Rapids 
Public  Library 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  IN 
THE  RYERSON  PUBLIC 
LIBRARY  BUILDING 

On  entering  the  door  to  the  large  hall 
around  which  the  public  rooms  on  the  first 
floor  are  grouped  you  will  find  directly  in  front 
of  the  door  a  standard  on  which  special  notices 
are  posted.  Always  look  at  these  notices  on 
entering  the  building.  There  is  sure  to  be 
something  new  here  every  few  days. 


We  shall  now  make  a  tour  of  the  public 
rooms,  taking  things  in  their  order  to  the 
right,  unless  otherwise  stated. 

First  we  see  the  water  cooler,  supplied 
all  the  year  around  with  ice  water,  boiled.  Next 
is  the  coat  room,  where  you  can  have  your 
coat,  hat,  umbrella,  or  parcel  checked,  free. 
Do  not  offer  the  boy  a  tip.  His  acceptance 
leads  to  dismissal.  ® 

Newspaper  Room 

Beyond  the  coat  room  is  the  Newspaper 
and  Magazine  Room.  Nearly  300  current  per- 
iodicals are  filed  here.  The  current  period- 
icals for  circulation  are  in  this  room;  like- 
wise the  engineering,  technical,  and  trade 
journals. 

Next  in  the  hall  is  the  bulletin  board,  on 
which  you  will  find  posted  cover  designs  of 
new  books,  the  weather  bureau  map,  and  other 
things  of  interest  from  time  to  time. 

Children's  Room 

The  next  room  is  the  Children's  Room. 
Do  not  fail  to  see  this.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
attractive  rooms  of  the  kind  in  the  country. 
Besides  the  books  and  magazines  for  children 
you  will  find  the  Winnie  Whitfield  Butler  Col- 
lection of  Picture  Books  in  Colors  for  Chil- 
dren in  this  room.  Be  sure  to  notice  the  low 
tables  and  chairs,  and  also  the  window  seats. 

Beyond  the  Children's  Room  is  the  Gen- 
eral Circulation  desk.  Here  all  books  are  re- 
turned and  the  ])ooks  taken  from  the  stacks 
charged.  Notice  the  artistic  grill  work  at  this 
desk;  also  the  attractive  mahogany  benches 
in  fi-ont  of  it. 

IJeyond  the  Circubitioii  dc^sk  is  the  Lib- 
rarian's oltice.  The  (b)or  Ironi  the  hall  is  kept 
eb)se(I.  ;\sk  at  the  (K-sk  if  you  wish  to  see 
him. 


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Registration  Room 


Next  is  the  stairway  leading  to  the  base- 
ment. The  men's  toilet  room  is  at  the  end  of 
the  hallway,  after  you  turn  the  corner  at  the 
foot  of  the  stairs.  On  the  first  floor  as  we 
pass  the  stairway  from  the  Circulation  desk 
we  come  to  the  Registration  Room.  Here  you 
get  your  card  entitling  you  to  draw  books. 
The  regulations  are  simple  and  are  only  for 
the  purpose  of  a  square  deal  for  all.  In  this 
room  you  will  also  find  the  open  shelves,  on 
which  there  are  several  thousand  books  and 
where  you  can  always  find  a  good  book  when 
you  are  looking  for  "something  to  read."  Be- 
sides the  books  in  English,  there  are  on  the 
shelves  collections  of  books  in  a  number  of 
foreign  languages — German,  Holland,  Polish, 
French,  Italian,  Swedish,  Norwegian,  etc. 
The  travel  guides  to  help  you  plan  your  vaca- 
tion are  also  in  this  room.  Here,  too,  is  the 
public  card  catalogue  and  the  printed  cata- 
logues with  someone  always  ready  and  willing 
to  explain  them  to  you.  Never  hesitate  to  ask 
questions  on  any  point  you  do  not  under- 
stand. Everybody  in  the  Library  is  at  your 
service  to  find  for  you  the  information  you 
want. 

Historical  Room 

The  next  room  is  the  Historical  Room, 
for  material  relating  to  Grand  Rapids  and 
Michigan.  Be  sure  to  look  at  the  things  in 
the  show  case.  In  this  room  you  will  also 
find  exhibitions  of  books  and  plates  from 
time  to  time.  Get  the  habit  of  looking  into 
this  room  every  time  you  come  to  the  build- 
ing, so  as  to  see  all  the  new  things  shown 
here. 

Marbles 

After  leaving  the  Historical  Room  we 
come  to  the  stairway  leading  to  the  second 
floor.    In  going  to  the  first  landing  notice  the 


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ladies  in  the  marble  wainscoting  over  the 
landing,  holding  their  skirts  as  though  they 
were  crossing  Monroe  street  on  a  rainy  day. 
Nature  placed  them  in  the  marble.  Notice 
the  marbles  all  the  way  up.  All  the  colored 
marbles  are  known  as  violet  breccia.  They 
are  said  to  be  of  volcanic  origin  and  they  come 
from  Italy.  The  marbles  in  the  floors  are 
from  Carrara,  Italy,  except  the  mosaics,  some 
of  which  are  from  France.  The  green  marbles 
for  the  door  frames  and  for  the  base  boards, 
etc.,  are  from  Vermont,  known  as  Alps  Green 
marbles. 

Reference  Room 

The  room  to  the  right  on  the  second  floor 
is  the  Reference  Room.  Notice  the  general 
architectural  design,  the  mantel,  the  lighting 
fixtures,  and  the  mahogany  furniture  in  this 
room.  Over  300  current  periodicals  are  filed 
here;  and  about  2500  reference  books  are  on 
the  open  shelves.  Ask  the  Librarian  at  the 
desk  for  assistance  in  your  search  for  any 
particular  information,  or  simply  go  to  the 
shelves  to  get  the  things  you  want.  None  of 
the  things  in  this  room  are  for  general  circula- 
tion. /  You  will  want  to  see  especially  some  of 
the  furniture  and  art  books  in  this  room.  The 
Library  is  building  up  the  best  collection  in 
America  of  books  on  furniture  and  the  allied 
arts. 

The  door  beyond  the  Reference  Room 
leads  to  the  Medical  Reading  Room.  About 
40  medical  periodicals  are  on  file  here  for  the 
use  of  doctors,  nurses,  etc.  When  you  wish 
to  use  this  room  inquire  at  the  Reference 
Room  desk. 

y\t  the  other  side  of  the  hall  from  the 
entrance  to  the  Medical  Reading  Room  is  the 
women's  toilet.  In(|uire  at  the  Reference 
Room  desk  for  the  key. 

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Lecture  Room 


Across  the  corridor  from  the  Reference 
Room  is  the  Lecture  Room.  These  two  rooms 
are  exactly  the  same  size,  but  the  color  effect 
of  the  ceiling  and  walls  is  wholly  different. 
Be  sure  to  notice  it.  The  Lecture  Room,  with 
the  use  of  chairs  around  the  sides  and  rear, 
can  seat  about  350  persons.  It  is  expected, 
however,  that  it  will  ultimately  be  used  as  a 
Periodical  Reading  Room.  From  time  to 
time  during  the  year  there  is  hung  on  the  walls 
of  the  Lecture  Room  and  the  Corridor  leading 
to  it  exhibitions  of  paintings,  etc.  These  ex- 
hibitions are  visited  by  tens  of  thousands  of 
people  annually. 

Furniture 

The  furniture  in  all  these  rooms  was 
made  to  order  for  this  building,  from  original 
designs  by  the  architects.  Mahogany  is  the 
wood  used  on  the  second  floor,  except  the 
opera  chairs  in  the  Lecture  Room,  which  have 
a  mahogany  finish.  In  the  rooms  on  the  first 
floor  the  furniture  is  all  quarter-sawed  oak, 
stained  almost  brown,  with  a  wax  finish, 
except  in  the  furniture  in  the  hall,  which  is 
mahogany. 

Color  Scheme 

The  lighting  fixtures  and  railings,  dulled 
with  verdigris,  the  doors  covered  with  green 
leather  studded  with  brass,  the  walls  of  the 
upper  and  lower  halls  a  Pompeian  red,  and  the 
ceilings  a  mellow  ivory,  all  combine  to  give  a 
most  pleasing  color  effect.  The  whole  color 
scheme  received  much  attention  on  the  part  of 
the  designers  and  builders,  and  the  beauty  of 
the  building  as  a  whole  grows  upon  one  the 
longer  he  is  with  it. 

This  little  journey  takes  in  only  about  a 
third  of  the  floor  space  of  the  building.  The 
work  rooms,  the  steel  book  stacks  with  their 


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glass  floors,  the  study  rooms,  the  boiler  room, 
the  fan  room,  the  store  rooms,  the  fumigating 
room,  the  shipping  and  packing  room,  etc., 
must  be  reserved  for  another  occasion.  In  all 
there  are  nearly  fort}-  rooms. 

On  leaving  the  building  notice  the  tablet 
in  the  vestibule,  which  states  that  it  was 
erected  for  the  use  of  the  Grand  Rapids  Public 
Library  and  presented  to  his  native  city  by 
]^Iartin  A.  Ryerson  in  1904. 

As  Viewed  From  the  Street 

When  you  get  to  the  sidewalk  turn  and 
take  another  look  at  the  building.  It  is  124 
feet  front  and  68  feet  deep,  with  a  large  wing 
for  stacks  in  the  rear,  47^  by  58  feet.  All 
the  walls  are  of  Bedford  stone.  The  style  of 
the  architecture  is  Renaissance,  though  Greek 
in  its  simplicity.  The  stone  work  around  the 
entrance  and  the  cornice  is  finely  carved,  the 
seal  of  the  City  of  Grand  Rapids  centering  the 
carved  work  over  the  door.  Above  the  cornice" 
is  an  ornamental  terra  cotta  cheneau,  from 
which  the  red  tile  roof  recedes.  The  top  of 
■the  roof  is  covered  with  glass,  which  serves  as 
a  skylight  for  the  halls. 

"Built  on  Honor" 

The  architects  of  the  building  were 
^Messrs.  Shepley,  Rutan  and  Coolidge,  of  Bos- 
ton and  Chicago.  Its  cost  is  not  known,  but 
with  its  equipment  it  has  l^een  estimated  as 
l)eing  in  the  neighl)orhood  of  $300,000.  It  is 
the  handsoniest  and  l)est  pul)lic  building  in 
(irand  Rapids,  the  l)est  library  l)uilding  in 
Michigan,  and  is  already  widely  known  as  one 
of  llu'  ])est  of  its  kind  in  the  country  lUit 
perhaps  the  highest  compliment  tluit  has  been 
paid  it  is  these  words  of  one  who  has  an  intel- 
ligent knowledge  of  its  construction:  "it  was 
built  on  lionor." 


September. 


THE  GRAND  RAPIDS 
PUBLIC  LIBRARY 


Main  (Ryerson)  Library  and  36  branches 
and  stations. 

More  than  125,000  books  and  pamphlets. 
/OO  current  periodicals  received  for  your  use 
in  the  Reading  Rooms. 

Collections  of  books  in  the  English, 
French,  German,  Holland,  Polish,  Norwegian, 
Swedish  and  Italian  languages,  with  other 
languages  to  be  added  shortly. 

Current  periodicals  in  the  English,  French, 
German,  Holland,  Polish,  Swedish,  Norwegian 
and  Spanish  languages. 

Daily  newspapers  from  15  different  cities, 
one  from  Amsterdam,  Holland. 

You  will  find  much  in  its  collection  to 
interest  and  to  help  you  in  your  work,  what- 
ever your  trade,  your  business,  or  your 
profession. 

The  Library  adds  from  8,000  to  10,000 
volumes  a  year.  It  proposes  to  have  on  its 
shelves  some  books  fc-r  every  art  and  for  every 
industry  in  Grand  Rapids. 

You  cannot  afford  to  neglect  the  oppor- 
tunities for  business,  for  pleasure,  for  study, 
offered  by  the  Library. 

The  use  of  the  books  and  periodicals  in 
the  buildings  is  free  to  every  one.  Citizens 
and  tax-payers  of  Grand  Rapids  may  receive  a 
card  to  take  books  from  the  buildings  without 


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cost.  Non-resident  non-taxpayers  may  rel 
ceive  a  card  for  drawing  books  on  the  pay! 
ment  of  $2.50  a  year.  I 

For  the  news  of  the  Library,  announce! 
ments  of  lectures,  exhibitions,  new  booksl 
location  and  hours  open  at  the  branches,  gel 
the  monthly  bulletin  every'month.  It  is  freJ 
for  the  asking  at  the  Ryerson  building  and 
all  the  branches.  I 

If  you  have  never  registered  to  receive  a 
card  for  drawing  books — 

DO  IT  NOW. 

LIBRARY  HOURS 

Ryerson  Public  Library  Building, 

Open  week  days  8:30  a.  m,  to  9  p.  m| 

Sundays  and  Holidays, 

reading  rooms  only  2  to  6  p.  m: 


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